Four Years Ago Today...

Pico and Gary were born. Those who follow my blog may be familiar with my hamsters that I loved so much.

I bought Raya on March 6, 2009 and two days later, March 8th, she had two babies: Gary and Pico.

They were very important to me. (See End of an Era.) I got more attached to them than I probably have to most of my pets (and I really, really love my pets).

I have been really bummed lately and missing Pico. It took me a while to realize that the reason could be his birthday approaching. Even after almost a year of him being gone and my life being so busy, I still manage to miss him like crazy. Sometimes I wonder if that feeling will go away. I suppose with time...

While I miss Pico with a pathetically sad ache, I always remind myself of our pet rats that we have now.

I'm sure some of you remember Romulus and Remus?

They are just as fun and adorable as ever. I can't get over how cute and silly they are. We love to have them around and they are so playful. They have brought so much to our lives already, and they are really only about 7 months old. Lucky for us, we still have years with them.

So while I am and have been feeling down about Pico, I am still so glad that we have Rom and Remus. I feel very lucky to have such wonderful pets!

Happy First Birthday Positively Miscellaneous!

Happy one-year anniversary!!! Yay!!!

My first blog post was published one year ago today. Happy b-day blog!

It has been an interesting experience, so far.

Sometimes people ask what I blog about, which usually gets a blank stare in return and a vague, "all kinds of stuff."

Sean Caspian asked and when I said the above, he asked if it was an idea dump. I think that is an apt description, don't you? But I knew that, going in, hence the title "Miscellaneous."

It is kind of fun for me to look at the progression of my blog. During the year I have had a total of 94 posts (too bad I didn't synchronize and get 100...) and 4421 page views! Yay

My least popular post was my very first post, Drumroll please with a whopping four views! Whew!

The post that generated a decent amount of response (though not all through blogger, but through friends of friends and Facebook) was the nerdy Birthday Coaster Set with 128 views. It was my first post that got over 100.

Some of the pages that got good responses were lists, like Everything I Need to Know About Life... as well as various lists of Halloween/Christmas movies and TV shows or music. The Halloween party posts and some of the costumes and NDK posts got good numbers, some over 100 and some close to 200.

The two pages that have been viewed the most are: "I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food" and "Love people. Cook them tasty food" which currently have 273 and 333 views respectively. Amazing! Apparently I need more posts like that. Except that I am not much of a cook.

That's pretty cool, right? I've been pretty excited about my views and progress. There is an audience out there for everything!

Thank you all for reading and supporting my blog and my ambitions to be a blogger! It has been fun and I hope you continue to stop by! Thanks much to my friends who help me out and especially to Wyatt Kane for making my blog a project to help me out!

David Bowie's New Song

As many of you know, David Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday by announcing a new album, which comes out (in America) the 12th of this month. It is called "The Next Day." He released his first single, Where Are We Now? at the same time. I love this song. I highly recommend listening to it (the video is strange, but try listening to the song without the distraction of the video).

Within the last few days, David Bowie released another song from the new album. It is called The Stars (Are Out Tonight). If you are a DB fan, you should listen and watch the video. Tilda Swinton (she played the White Witch in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe") plays his wife, which is cool. She is a very unique-looking lady, and that fits DB's style.

"Stars" are a theme David Bowie began using early in his career and he has always held onto it. His association with stars in space correlate to big stars or celebrities on Earth. And he often mixes the ideas: space aliens becoming rock-and-roll musical stars. He also explores the destructiveness of celebrities. From 'Space Oddity' to 'Starman,' 'Star,' 'Ziggy Stardust,' 'Rock-and-Roll Suicide,' and 'Moonage Daydream' to 'Makin' My Love (Like a Shining Star),' 'New Killer Star,' and so many more, his star themes show through.

I think the video for "The Stars" is weird (and occasionally a little disturbing). And the song itself is reminiscent of past DB styles, but sadly, not any of my favorites. The main thing in the video that kept my interest was the other "David Bowies" (usually accompanied by his "wife" as she must have been in those days) that were following him and his wife around. Fascinating! Because DB has always had all of the androgyny going for him, it is difficult to tell if the young "DBs" are male or female. Due to DB's history, I think that is appropriate.

I listened to the song again, without watching the video, and that helped me out. I like the song just fine without the odd video distracting me. The lyrics are interesting if you listen closely. The song and video seem to show this strange disconnect between David Bowie as he is now and as he has been in the past. Those persona are still around, however, which becomes pretty evident in the video. The fact that he still wants them around comes across in the lyrics:

"They burn you with their radiant smiles
Trap you with their beautiful eyes
They're broke and shamed or drunk or scared
But I hope they live forever.

"Their jealousy's spilling down
The stars must stick together
We will never be rid of these stars
But I hope they live forever."

I found this article from NPR about it: David Bowie's New Song Is....

While this new song is not my favorite, I still think it is fascinating and new. And it is about David Bowie. How can you not like that aspect as a DB fan, right?

But I still LOVE "Where Are We Now?" That song is beautiful. So if you aren't a big fan of the new song, just focus on that!